Transfer element and apparatus for varnishing, painting, or printing



Jan. 15, 1929. 1,698,747

c. WAGNER ET Al.-

"TRANSFER ELEMENT AND APPARATUS FOR VARNISHING, PAINTING, OR PRINTING Filed Feb. 18. 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet l 2 INVENTORS flaw/r161: wan 5 9 Jan. 15, 1929.

-c. WAGNER ET AL TRANSFER ELEMENT AND APPARATUS FOR VARNISHING, PAINTING, OR PRINTING Filed Feb. 18. 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 illlfll I rllilli BY Q,

Patented Jan. 15, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES WAGNER, F GRANTWOOD, AND

JERSEY, ASSIGNORS T0 CHARLES WAGNER LITHO. MACHINERY COMPANY, INC., A

CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

Application filed February 1 This invention relates to improvements in transfer element and apparatus for varnishing, painting or printing.

One of the objects of this invention is the production of a transfer element for coating with or transferring varnish, paint, printers ink or the like, t'o'plates or sheets of suitable material, and the use in such a transfer element of a transfer surface formed of the soft and highly elastic composition employed in printers inking-rollers, while at the. same time permitting such surface composition to be detached and changed or varied to suit varying transfer conditions.

Another object of this invention is to produce .a highly efiicient transfer roller preferably embodying said conventional soft and highly elastic composition and adapted .to coat, paint or print in one continuous operation a series of metal blanks or units embodied in a continuous sheet or plate, and to leave on the blanks uncoated marginal spaces or portions to subsequently enable a more facile soldering of such uncoated margins or edges together.

Another object of this invention is to produce a roller having a transfer surface of said conventional soft and highly elastic inktransferring composition which may be molded. flat and then mounted on a core, and

we therefore provide a strong flexible fabric base such as heavy duck canvas and securely fasten on one surface thereof a relatively thin layer of such conventional composition and then securely fasten the fabric carrying such surface layer on the periphery of the roller core. a Y

' Another object of this invention is to produce a transfer roller having a surface of saidhighly efiicient conventional composition in which grooves or channels for the purpose hereinabove specified may be readily formed. To this end we have provided a roller-core on which we detachably mount a transfer element comprising a flexible fabric base hav ing a.surface composed of a layer of said conventional composition, in which element channels or grooves are formed, the side walls of which are composed of said compositiorfl and the bottom of which is said fabric base.

The grooved portions of the roller transfer no coating material and therefore cause a large sheet to have, uncoated strips, which AUGUST HORMEL, OE JERSEY CITY, NEW

TRANSFER ELEMENT AND API'ARATUS- FOR VARNISHIN G, PAINTING, OR PRINTING.

8, 1924. Serial No. 693,504.

strips, when the sheet is cut up into blanks,

will form uncoated margins for such blanks partitions in the mold for forming the same or by cutting parallel lines in the surface of the 'compositionlayer and stripping the portions between such parallel lines from the fabric. It will be obvious that a heavy fabno, such as canvas duck, will form a nonpenetrable severing bed on which the composition may be cut and from which it may be stripped without in any way damaging the fabric. 4

With these and other objects in view, the invention comprises the combination ofmembers and arrangement of parts so combined as to co-act and cooperate with each other in the performance of the functions and the accomplishment of the results herein contemplated, and comprises in one of its adaptations the species or preferred form illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which v 1 Fig. 1 is a vertical section showing in separated relationship our preferred devices used for producing a transfer element, being a.

mold containing .a transfer composition, a fgbric frame carrying a fabric and ,a steam c est' Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the elements of Fig. 1 brought together to secure an adherence of the transfer composition to the fabric;

Fig. 3 is asimilar view of the elements of Figs. 1 and 2 after the adherence of the composition to the fabric; p I

r Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section of a piece of fabric and composition mounted thereon;

Fig; 5 is a plan view of the apparatus shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a transfer element having a series of coating areas separated by grooves or channels formed in the composition to produce on a sheet of metal or the like a series of coated areas separated by uncoated strips;

Fig. 7 is a perspectiveview of a portion of a mold-having partitions adapted to produce grooves or channels shown in Fig. 6; and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view of a varnishing machine illustrating a transfer roller having our transfer element mounted there on in the operation of coating a metal plate.

Referring now to these drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of our invention, 1 (Fig. 4) illustrates a fragment-of a transfer element composed of a flexible fabric 2 and a layer 3 of soft, highly elastic transfer composition usually employed in printers inking rollers. This transfer-composition may be composed of varying ingredients, one of which compositions comprises glue 14 lbs., glycerin 28 lbs., castor oil 2% lbs., borax 3 ounces, ammonia 2 ounces and sugar 7 lbs. Other compositions are composed of glue and molasses and glue and honey.

According to our invention, the layer '3 of said soft and highly elastic transfer composition is caused to firmly adhere to the surface of the fabric 2 and for this purpose we preferably provide apparatus consisting of a. mold 4 having a bed plate 5 provided with a smooth bottom surface 5* surrounded by frame members 6, which project-above the bottom surface 5 a sufcient distance to provide a suitable thickness for the layer of composition 3, which when melted is'poured into said mold. Superimposed upon the mold 4 is the sheet of fabric 2 preferably composed of heavy duck canvas which is of greater length than the mold, so that when a layer of composition is fastened thereto, as hereinafter specified, uncovered ends 2 -2 will be provided for the purpose of fastening the same as hereinafter stated. This canvas is preferablystretched in a stretching frame 7 having stationary fastening prongs 8 at one end and a stretching roller 9 at the opposite end having fastening prongs 9* thereon. The frame with the canvas stretched thereon is laced over the mold 4, so that the under sur ace of the stretched canvas will contact with the u per surface of the composition 3. -A steamox 10 is then brought down over the fabric and mold 4 and steam to heat the canvas and melt the composition 3 is admitted to conduits 11 in said box through the inlet pipe 12 controlled by valve 13, circulation being established through outlet pipe 14 controlled by valve 15. A portion of the melted composition will thereupon penetrate the canvas 2 and, if the composition be then cooled, a strong adherent union will take place between the composition andthe fabric or canvas 2 A quick and effectlve cooling of the composition is accomplished by shutting off the steam and passing cold water through the conduits 11.

As illustrated, steam may be shut off by the valves 13 and 15 and cold water may be admitted through the water-inlet pipe 16 which is controlled by the valve 17, circulation being established through the water outlet pipe 18 controlled by the valve 19.

When the composition is cooled by the water the box may be removed in any suitable way. The composition contained in the mold will be found to have strongly adhered to the fabric and the outer surface 2 thereof, which formerly abutted against the smooth bottom 5 of the bed plate, will be flat and so as to provide a desirable coating surface which will be free from air-holes or bubbles, as any bubbles or air-holes will form on the upper surface of the molded material which is united to the fabric, as aforesaid, by a strong adherent oint.

It is desirable in one continuous operation to coat with varnish, paint or other suitable coating a sheet of metal having an area sufficient to produce a series of metal blanks and furthermore in one continuous operation to coat a series of these blanks so as to differentiate each blank from its neighbor and also to coat each of the blanks in such a manner as to provide an uncoated soldering area or strip at the margins thereof so that soldering may be accomplished without the usual scraping of coated surfaces. It is desirable to leave such an uncoated strip along all the marginal edges of each blank, and in the preferred embodiment of our invention shown we have provided means for bringing the surface of a sheet of material to be coated of suflicient area to contain a plurality of blanks or units into contact with a transfer surface adapted to produce a series of separated coated areas having uncoated strips completely surrounding each of the coated-areas. These sheets may thereafter be served along and within the uncoated strips to produce lanks or'umts with uncoated margins which may 'then be soldered without the scraping off of coating material. I

To this end we provide, as more particularly shown in Fig. 6, in the layer of com os tion of the transfer element a series of re atlvely narrow grooves or channels 3 whlch extend from the to smooth surface to the bottom of the fabric ase. This grooving or chann elling 3 is preferably accomplished by providing the mold 4 with a series of longitudinal and transverse separating strips or partitions 5*, though such grooves or channels might be formed by cutting strips out of the tion material. Such a procedure, however, would involve the use of some additional material and labor.

In the preferred embodiment of our invention, a transfer element'is mounted (see Fig. 8) upon a roller 20 of conventional form, the ends 2-2 being fastened to fastening spindles 21 of the roller in any suitable manner. Varnish may be fed to the transfer elements on the roller by rollers 22 and 23 which rotate within a trough or tank 24. The metal smooth Ill composi- 4 sheet 25 is fed beneath and held in contact with the roller 20 by a supporting roller 26. Obviously when a roller so formed is used, the plate will be coated to provide a series of isolated or separated areas each comprising a metal blank which will be surrounded by uncoated strips, and upon the severing of these sheets along and within said uncoated strips, individual blanks having uncoated margins will be produced, which blanks may, as aforesaid, be readily soldered without the necessity of scraping off and wasting a portion of the coating.

Having claim 1. A transfer roller comprising a substantially cylindrical core, a layer of soft highlyelastic transfer composition mounted on said core and having a surface provided with a series of intercommunicating channels exdescribed our invention, we

tending transversely and circumferentially in the outer peripheral surface thereof, said channeled surface being formed of a series of independent blocks spaced from each other and each having a smooth cast printing surface and similar cast edge surfaces.

2. A transfer roller comprising a substantially cylindrical core, a layer of soft highlyelastic transfer composition mounted on said core and having a surface provided with a series of intercommunicating channels, said channeled surface being formed of a series of independent surfaces spaced from each, other and each having a smooth cast printingsurface and similar cast edge surfaces.

In witness whereof, we have signed our names to the foregoing specification.

CHARLES WAGNER. AUGUST HORMEL. 

